The train I was supposed to take yesterday was canceled (apparently, trains can be canceled, too; I’ve never had this happen). Many travelers are objectively terrible at handling trip disruptions (which are so common), so I wanted to help by sharing my concrete example of how to find a plan B to save the trip (and save money).
It’s not a flight cancellation, but I did have to find a flight to replace the train, so the handling of the disruption is similar to a flight cancellation. We’ve talked a lot about dealing with flight disruptions, but I will consolidate all our important tips into an easy-to-follow guide soon.
In the meantime, my example is very useful if you ever need to buy a last-minute flight specifically. Flytrippers aims to help you travel for less through our 3 types of content, namely flight deals, travel rewards, and tips/inspiration/news.
Here’s what I did to find a plan B after my train was cancelled (and you can follow my short trip in my Instagram stories, where I always share all my trips).
Why I went on this trip
My very first (and very short) trip of 2026 didn’t start great. I was expecting (and I hope) for my return to be affected by the huge storm expected to pummel NYC tonight, but not the outbound almost 48 hours before the start, especially by train.
I needed to go to New York City this weekend for 2 events. Well, it was mostly for the 1st on Sunday, and then I figured I’d get there earlier to attend the 2nd on Saturday since I was in town anyway.
The 1st event on Sunday is a huge meetup at JFK to talk about travel with a few friends and hundreds of fellow travelers who completed the jetBlue flight challenge to get a bonus of 350,000 points (and 25 years of elite status, which includes 15,000 more points per year).
The 2nd event on Saturday is the Long Live Emo Festival, where there will be a lot of good music (I had such a great time at the November edition of the Vans Warped Tour that I want my fix again, even if I went to a Taking Back Sunday concert in December).
I hesitated a lot between just flying or taking the incredibly slow Montreal–NYC train again (I did it 3 times in the last 14 months), as it’s actually somewhat fun to work comfortably in a train while enjoying a nice view most of the way down (I love trains almost as much as planes).
Trains are comfy and spacious… buses are not. So while I’m not too snobby to take buses when I have to (I often do), I would not consider it for this long of an itinerary.
I decided to do both a train and a plane, 1 in each direction. Including to save a bit. So I was going to take the train yesterday.
Why I chose the train for the outbound trip rather than the inbound trip
First, because it’s better to redeem points for a flight on the way back than on the way there, due to Canada’s high taxes on flights.
Also, as mentioned, New York City is expecting a major snowstorm tonight. Estimates were for 45 centimeters of snow at one point; now the forecast is down to a more reasonable 30 centimeters, but that’s still a lot for people who are so bad at dealing with snow.
So I really wanted to book a flight for my return on Sunday night. If I’m lucky, the chaos will lead to my flight being cancelled, and I’ll get 1000 CAD for free to book a very nice Marriott hotel in New York City (and earn thousands of points for a future stay, too).
I genuinely love it when my flights are cancelled. Being a savvy traveler and paying for your flights with a good credit card gives you free hotels and free meals effortlessly!!! One of the most basic tips! I’ve used this insurance over a dozen times.
With most credit cards, you get 500 CAD with this insurance, but I paid the 87 CAD in taxes/fees for my Aeroplan points redemption with my Amex Aeroplan Reserve Card, a premium card that gives you 1000 CAD instead of 500 CAD (and unlimited access to Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounges in North America).
More on whether I get my wish tomorrow in my Instagram stories (send me good cancellation vibes).
But I procrastinated booking my train ticket (in my experience, the tickets stay at 79 USD even on the day of). So I can’t even rely on any credit card insurance for the train trip disruption, as I never paid for anything before it got canceled.
Indeed, at 8:29 PM on Thursday night, when I finally decided to book the Friday 10 AM train, I saw the “Canceled” status.
I haven’t taken nearly as many trains as flights (I’m now at 619 flights, so it’s a high bar), but I’ve never seen a train be canceled, honestly. This was 2 days before the storm, so it’s not so much the snow, but it may have been the extreme cold.
Who knows. Who cares, in fact.
As travelers, we have no control over disruptions; we only have control over whether we deal with them efficiently… or just whine pointlessly about how it’s so unfair for disruptions to happen while doing nothing and relying on airlines (!!!!!!) to fix the situation themselves (like so many people sadly chose to do).
What you need to decide when there’s a trip disruption
I’ll have more details about the travel insurance angle very soon, but in any case, that doesn’t even affect the 1st decision you always have to make when a trip disruption happens: whether to continue with the trip or not.
That’s a no-brainer for me for 99% of my trips. I booked it, so of course I want to take the trip. I’ll even say I find it wild that people let a simple flight disruption ruin their trip.
Like with everything in life, not being prepared and not knowing your options and rights certainly doesn’t help… and probably makes it simpler to just cancel. If there’s one thing people love a lot, it’s when everything is simple.
But you really should know what to do, as flight disruptions are extremely common! You can read our teaser about flight disruptions in the meantime. It’s not as complicated as it seems.
I had also followed the basic and so simple tip: leaving in advance when you have an event you don’t want to miss. To have time to find a plan B if a disruption happens, like in my case.
So this trip wasn’t a rare exception for me: I still wanted to go to my 2 events. Both organizers said they wouldn’t cancel them, even though I was skeptical; NYC seems to be prepping for quite the chaos, with an official state of emergency enacted and everything.
To be frank, seeing a chaotic 30 centimeters of snow in NYC and possibly getting a 1000 CAD hotel for free made this trip even more appealing than before.
How to find a last-minute flight
Normally, you can just get the airline to rebook you on another flight by finding the flight yourself and giving them the number (an effort 99% of travelers don’t make, which is why they’re delayed much longer).
So you normally don’t need to book a last-minute flight. But if you were flying on a smaller airline, if the available options don’t arrive fast enough for your liking, or if you didn’t follow the simple tip of leaving in advance…
… you’ll need to book a flight at the last minute.
These tips here work for any last-minute flight, of course, not just those you need because of a flight disruption.
If you know the basics of how plane ticket pricing works, you know that the distance flown or the cost to operate a flight has absolutely nothing to do with the price. You should know that if you want to know how to find cheaper flights.
Last-minute flights are often way more expensive (especially to non-leisure destinations).
That’s logical. If you’re booking last-minute, you’re most likely willing to pay more. Airlines always charge as much as travelers are willing to pay, never a penny less. You have to do that in such a peculiar industry.
In my case, Montreal–NYC flights were 360 CAD one way, or 378 CAD one-way for a nonstop flight.
That’s obviously an insane price I would never pay.
Especially knowing that, in our flight deals, those flights are often 280 CAD roundtrip, which is less than half the price.
In this case, travel rewards were the solution, as they often are for flights that are expensive in cash.
I paid only 10,000 points and 165 CAD, giving me a good value of 2.1¢/pt (and I could’ve paid even less).
Sadly, so many travelers waste their precious Aeroplan, Amex, or RBC Avion points at just 1¢ per point (less than half, so half the free travel).
Why travel rewards can be great for last-minute flights
One of the 6 most important things to know about travel rewards is that there are 2 types of rewards:
- Rewards of the more simple type (less lucrative)
- Rewards of the more lucrative type (less simple)
So many people sadly only focus on rewards of the more simple type. Think of it as cash back, which you probably know (the absolute worst kind of rewards).
It’s a fixed value. It’ll never be worth more.
So a 378 CAD flight will always cost 37,800 points! (or whatever fixed-value equivalent for other currencies). The price in points is TIED to the price in cash. Always. No good deal is possible. But more simple, for sure.
That’s a lot more than the 10,000 points I paid, right? Same flight. And that’s just 1¢/pt in value instead of the 2.2¢/pt I got. Same flight. Twice the value!
We shared a lot of details about redeeming simple points when we added the price in simple points to the famous Flytrippers flight deals we spot every day.
However, with points of the more lucrative type, you can get outsized value!
The price in points is NOT TIED to the price in cash. You can get great deals!
Why points of the more lucrative type are great for last-minute flights
Of course, the very best way to redeem lucrative points is for luxurious business class flights in lie-flat seats. You only need 60,000 Aeroplan points for Europe, and 75,000 points for Asia (I did both among my 9 business class flights of 2025).
But if you follow our simple tips, it’s sooooooooo easy to get sooooooooo many points! So you might sometimes want to redeem your points to save a lot of money on last-minute flights.
For flights in economy class, points of the more lucrative type generally only offer a good value when cash prices are high. That covers many situations, including last-minute flights.
We have 7 airline reward currencies easily accessible to Canadians, and basically, if you want to be very thorough, you simply need to check those. Which is not that complicated.
I’ll share a follow-up post with my detailed process for this flight with all 7 of those programs, plus the 2 bank award charts (Amex/RBC) and even a few programs accessible with US-issued cards. I’ll share the detailed step-by-step search.
It’ll be another very concrete example for you to learn so much about airline points, the best rewards that exist. Sign up for our free newsletter specifically about travel rewards (join the 150,000+ savvy Canadian travelers who receive our content).
While you await all those tips in that post, I’ll just share that I booked the nonstop United flight from Montreal to Newark for 10,000 Aeroplan points and 165 CAD for the very last-minute outbound flight.
Flying to the US with Aeroplan points is no longer a good deal most of the time, for 3 reasons I’ll explain in part 2 of this post.
But in this case, it worked out to 2.1¢/pt value, and that’s decent.
Especially when you have literally hundreds of thousands of points since they’re so easy to earn when you know how: use all your spending to unlock huge welcome bonuses (and improve your credit score). So simple!
(My hundreds of thousands of points are what I have, when NOT even including my millions of points earned from my flight challenges!)
But as a teaser, I’ll even remind you of how amazing partner airlines are with the even-lower price I could’ve paid for my flight the same day: just 6,000 Etihad Guest miles and 153 CAD!
That’s 8,000 Amex points due to the lower transfer rate, but it’s still better than 10,000 points. It’s an even better value of 2.8¢ per Amex point (33% more than the already good value I got). That precise Air Canada flight was even 27,100 Aeroplan points (so 27,100 Amex points; over 3 times more)!!!
I didn’t book that for an important reason (and there’s another one that many will care about), which I hope you’ll want to learn in the follow-up post.
Okay, one last tease… VIPorter points are now relevant, thanks to the phenomenal offer on the newish BMO VIPorter World Elite Mastercard.
But the price in points is TIED to the price in cash, one of the airline points currencies that are not great and can’t give you outsized value (like WestJet points, too).
Porter was charging 61,000 points for that Montreal–NYC flight, a absolutely terrible value. Especially considering you can redeem 50,000 VIPorter points for a roundtrip from Montreal to Paris on Air Transat (partner airlines are almost always better; one of the most basic things to understand).
But with another airlines’ rewards program, the exact same Porter flight was just 7,500 points and 77 USD!!!
Quite different than 61,000 right? Same flight! Because the price is NOT TIED to the cash price. Guaranteed fixed price.
(Partner. Airlines. Are. Key!!!!!!!)
More details in part 2, including why I didn’t book that one instead. And no, it’s not the connection, as I’m a pro traveler and so I cannot be among the people who aren’t able to book connecting flights. Quite the contrary even, as I love the VIP airport lounge at YTZ!
And again, since this is important: sometimes lucrative points are great, sometimes they’re not!!! The follow-up post will show you plenty more great examples of terrible redemptions I came across during this very search, too!
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Summary
My train from Montreal to New York City was cancelled. I still wanted to go for my 2 events, but cash prices for last-minute flights were high, as usual. That’s why having travel rewards of the more lucrative type is incredibly useful to get outsized value. A lot more details coming in part 2 soon.
What would you like to know about this concrete example of how to find a plan B and save a lot of money? Tell us in the comments below.
See the flight deals we spot: Cheap flights
Discover free travel with rewards: Travel rewards
Explore awesome destinations: Travel inspiration
Learn pro tricks: Travel tips
Featured image: TBD (photo credit: TBD)
